Cicero's 'pro Ligario', pity, and the writing of history
AWRC Lunch Table and Talk
Taking Cicero's pro Ligario as my starting point, I will offer some thoughts on pity and on the role of emotion in the writing of history. I will look at the suicide of Cato as a frame for Cicero's perspective, and I will frame my own perspective by discussing briefly the oratory of Clarence Darrow. I will be speaking partly from an academic perspective, but also from the perspective of a professional writer (i.e. having personally, in the career sense, left academia for writing) and I will situate my thoughts with reference to a few twentieth and twenty-first century writers (George Orwell, Yiyun Li, Marlon James, Bandi). These reflections are intended to offer a rationale and a way of thinking about emotion in the writing of history.
The AWRC has reserved a lunch table at 12.30 in Hall for Cluster members to meet the speaker Alison Rosenblitt. The talk at 1.15 in the Florey Room is catered with cakes and tea/coffee, all are welcome.